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>> Thursday, September 27, 2012

I have a spur-of-the-moment meeting here tonight.

People I know relatively well, but who've never been to my home before will be here. IN. MY. HOUSE!

I'll be honest, it scares the livin' daylights outta me!! I am trying not to panic and hoping to focus just on what NEEDS doing, including my normal routine, which won't leave a whole lot of time for cosmetic things.

You know, things like organizing and cleaning the toy room/front porch, washing the windows, repairing and painting the house and garage siding, filling the potholes in the driveway, refinishing the dining room table, recovering the chairs... that sort of thing.

Isn't it funny how we're content to live in a certain state as long as no one else perceives we're less than perfect? How is it we never "notice" clutter, disrepair, dirt, and unfinished projects until faced with the prospect of someone else seeing them?!

I truly want to be content with what I have (including the budget I have), but in times like this, I can't help but notice the cracked, torn vinyl on the dining room chairs and the worn tabletop, even though they've been that way for many years. I can't help but see my unfinished kitchen walls and the crumbling front corner of the garage, even though they've been that way for many years, too.

I'm suddenly a little embarrassed that we haven't made it a priority to replace our ripply living room carpet or purchase matching sets of furniture. I can't believe I haven't washed the windows yet, despite the fact that I've never once fully completed the task in the 10-1/2 years that we've lived here. Even the way I've hung pictures on the walls is irritating me!

How silly.

This too, is vanity.

I am praying and hoping my focus can be on my friends, not on my STUFF. If they didn't know it before, they will come into my home tonight and see that I am not perfect. {GASP!} They will see a home overrun with toys and papers that I just don't know what to do with. They will see my mismatched, second-hand furniture, and my pictures hanging in rather haphazard manner on the walls, and know that interior decorating is simply not my passion. They will drive onto my yard and come into my house and assume (correctly) that I am not wealthy.

And that I rarely dust.

But my prayer is that while they might notice all these things, they will also see a HOME where, despite its many imperfections and limited resources, a woman lives contentedly and joyfully.

And that making visitors feel valuable is more important to her than pretending to be perfect.

Its so funny to see this...we are having dinner guests on this coming Saturday and I am already fretting the table scratches, junky looking TV stand, a table cloth w/ matching place settings, and the messy patio. Oh, and the yard needs to be mowed too! I really stopped inviting people over because I got tired of stressing my house being clean and the furniture not being perfect. And our dog sheds too - all over....